Vicious (Sinners of Saint Book 1) Review – Nice work L.J. Shen!!

Vicious? Uhhhh? Yup!

Holy moses, this was a doozy cause L.J. Shen pulled all sorts of feelers from me in Vicious, My Little Boppets! You will want to set the bunny slippers aside to run like a cray cray person to Chapters (no judgement here either ladies and gents) to grab your very own copy of Vicious by L.J. Shen! Or if you’re like myself, hit the trigger on the “Buy” button because you won’t be disappointed with L.J. Shen’s, Vicious!

Ok, I’ll totally throw myself under the bus, I had a book cover whore moment with Vicious. I was all like, “oooo, lookey here! That’s a whole lotta sexy going on right there, mmmhmmm.” so when L.J. Shen delivered a book that matched Vicious’s cover…well there’s just not much more to say on that note. Now that we’ve let my seedy secret out I will go forth with L.J. Shen’s, Vicious, review! Grab the latte, bucket of peanut butter M&M’s, and park the posterior buns to your seat of choice! Here we go!

The Hate For Vicious

Vicious is told in duel point of view, our heroine, Emilia, and our Hero, Baron Jr. aka Vicious, and starts with them in their last year of high school so we get to see a good look at how their relationship starts.

Emilia’s parents work for the rich family that encompasses Vicious Spencer as well they live in a guest house on the property therefor she is looked upon as the “Help” in every aspect of her life. Whether it be at school or at home on the Spencer property. Emilia subjected to horrendous bulling and this is only magnified when she stumbles in on a very private situation involving Vicious. This starts the crazy train that is Emilia and Vicious!

Emilia can’t stand Vicious (for obvious reasons) yet can’t seem to help but be ensnared by him every time he’s near. And Emilia hates him all the more for bringing this confusion and pull that he has over her. There’s an unspoken passion there (is it just Hate? Revenge?***I’ll never tell!***) that she doesn’t know what to do with and it results in Emilia coming to the conclusion that she MUST to get a scholarship out of Tos Sandos and far far away from Vicious.

Does Emilia get her scholarship out of Tos Sandos and away from all of the passion and hate?

BUT what does one do when you hate someone with a passion yet can’t break the spell that encompasses you both?

The Hate In Vicious

Vicious has his reason for being the cruel, cold, brutal person that he is and none of them are for the faint at heart. Vicious’s father-Baron Sr., Step-Mother-Julianne, and a fellow by the name of Daryl, play a very large part in all this. Baron Sr. and Julianne show little to no interest in him or what he does so he basically does and acts however he want, no matter who it affects-hence the horrendous bullying. The only good thing in Vicious’s life was his Mother and her death basically starts a chain of events that change Baron Jr. to whom we come to know as, Vicious. And he truly lives up to this name and rains hell on Emilia’s life-and let me just tell you here My Little Possums, I’m not sure how many times I cussed Vicious out in all this!

Fast forward 10 years and Vicious and Emilia happen to spontaneously find themselves in the same world, so to speak, and things take on an entirely different spin. The burning hate is still there but there is an underlying feeling that just wasn’t there before.

Is that underlying feeling a feeling of vengeance on one and other? Or is it something entirely different? Do they find the true underlying reason to their burning hate?

Or is it really even hate at all?

What Does L.J. Shen Give Us?

L.J. Shen gives us a real emotional wringer with Vicious. She delivers a heroine that is all sorts of strong and it was truly mind blowing. Emilia dealt with so much abuse-not physically-from Vicious that it was almost unbearable at times-I held my own tantrums on behalf of Emilia a many times! She never let it get the best of her though…if anything it spurred her on to be that much better. The woman that Emilia grows into is something that is pure beauty. She develops a…snarky-ness to her (who would have thought that could be beautiful!) as an adult and takes no crap from Vicious.

Now Vicious! L.J. Shen gives us a Grade A asshole with Vicious and she may have done this better than any other author I’ve come across in the last little while. To say that L.J. Shen had her work cut out for her with redeeming Vicious is a huge understatement cause I was positive that he would NOT make my “book boyfriend list”! Vicious himself pulls us in and we get to see his deepest demons and this is where we truly get to understand him. We get to see a boy who endured some incredibly horrific things and we watch him grow into the cold, hard,….well vicious, shell of a man with a touch of unhinged-ness to him. But Emilia is the chink to his armor and it’s incredible to watch him deal with her and the chink.

L.J. Shen takes us on a tough, push-pull, journey with both Emilia and Vicious and, holy pally pants, it gives us whiplash but it’s a stunning ride!

My Final Thoughts On Vicious?

Hmmm, where do I start with L.J. Shen’s, Vicious? I landed up enjoying Vicious a lot more than I thought I would. I wasn’t sure what to expect with Vicious but just knew there was a serious bullying aspect to it and that is usually something I tend to stay away from but I took a step outside of my comfort zone and I’m so glad I did.

One of the biggest things that surprised me in Vicious was that there was some humor in it. Not a lot but just the right amount and L.J. Shen somehow worked it seamlessly throughout Vicious. I will admit that the bullying and the Vicious’s cruelness to Emilia at times, was tough for me and found I needed a break sometimes which is why I think I have so much respect for Emilia, cause she couldn’t escape like I could. This is what transforms a ‘good’ author to a ‘great’ author-being able to pull those deep feelers outta me and L.J. Shen did just that! L.J. Shen delivers an angsty, read with a healthy dose of darkness to it and I loved those moments.

Now lets move onto what you’ve alllll been waiting for! Sexy times!!!!!! YES!! Fidgeting is a definite in this one Peeps! L.J. Shen does not scrimp on the sexy times in Vicious and I’d have to say that she makes it straight into my steamy erotic book category!

So with all that, L.J. Shen hit ALL the marks with Vicious and I enjoyed every moment of it!! You my dear L.J. Shen nailed it with Vicious and you both have made it on my “re-read” shelf!!